{"id":1635,"date":"2010-11-22T12:45:07","date_gmt":"2010-11-22T17:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=1635"},"modified":"2010-12-20T22:07:36","modified_gmt":"2010-12-21T03:07:36","slug":"dvd-frozen-2010","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=1635","title":{"rendered":"DVD: Frozen (2010)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/ Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews<\/a> \/ <\/em><\/em><\/em>F<\/a><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Film: Excellent \/ DVD Transfer: Excellent\/ DVD Extras: Excellent<\/p>\n

Label\/Studio: Anchor Bay\/ Region: 1 (NTSC) \/\u00a0Released: September 28 2010<\/p>\n

Synopsis: \u00a0Three friends struggle to stay alive after being forgotten and stranded in a chairlift in mid-winter.<\/p>\n

Special Features: \u00a0Audio commentary with writer\/director Adam Green and actors Shawn Ashmore, Kevin Zegers and Emma Bell \/ 3 Featurettes: “Catching Frostbite: The Origins of Frozen” (11:01) + “Three below Zero” (10:53) + “Shooting Through it” (11:20) \/ Making-of Documentary: “Beating the Mountain: Surviving Frozen” (52:53) \/ 3 Deleted scenes with optional commentary by writer\/director Adam Green (6:27) \/ Theatrical trailer<\/p>\n

Easter Egg: If you cursor down from “Theatrical Trailer” in the Special Freatures Menu, a wolf paw print appears on Joe. Hit Enter and “Chair 92” (1:39) shows Green explaining the real-life suicide that occured a year prior to filming at the same location the actors were filmed.<\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

Review:<\/p>\n

While producing Paul Solet\u2019s\u00a0Grace<\/strong> (2009), Adam Green was writing the first draft of what became his best film to date.\u00a0Frozen<\/strong> is a simple tale of three people stranded in a chairlift, exposed to the severe elements of -30 degree nights, teasing snow & sleet, nasty frostbite, and a few other toothy surprises.<\/p>\n

Ostensibly a B-movie, the low-budget production was shot entirely on location in Utah and actually put the cast 50 feet above ground on a mountaintop. There\u2019s virtually no cheating inFrozen<\/strong>: three characters stuck in a chairlift, and it\u2019s a gripping, often tense drama that few directors could\u2019ve pulled off with such finesse.<\/p>\n

The surprise of\u00a0Frozen<\/strong> being so solid is understandable when one considers Green\u2019s biggest hit \u2013Hatchet<\/strong> (2006) \u2013 and his reputation as a satirical gorehound, but\u00a0Frozen<\/strong> is played straight, and the horror largely comes from the actors credible performances as couple Dan (Wrong Turn<\/strong>\u2019s Kevin Zegers) and Parker (Emma Bell) give their relationship one last chance while best friend and third wheel Joe (X-Men<\/strong>\u2019s Shawn Ashmore) tags along, quietly bearing the slow disintegration of what was a perfect best friend relationship with childhood buddy Dan.<\/p>\n

Their group\u2019s predicament stems from a simple sneaky trick to get onto a chairlift for one last run down the hill, and a series of mistakes that make it clear they\u2019re alone for potentially 5 days before the park opens.<\/p>\n

Green\u2019s characters are simple, average, and wholly identifiable, but neither the dialogue nor the performances are terribly clich\u00e9d, and while most of the drama takes place above ground \u2013 and could easily have been faked in a studio \u2013 there are regular camera moves and angles that remind audiences the actors are really way up in the chilly air.<\/p>\n

Will Barratt\u2019s cinematography is gorgeous in 2.40:1 \u2018scope, and the lighting feels natural, beautiful, and claustrophobic. The framing is elegant, and the editing allows audiences to bond with the characters without the interruption of showy cuts and shock montages.<\/p>\n

Andy Garfield\u2019s score is almost stealth, drifting in among the natural sounds and rearing itself during the film\u2019s main trauma sequences. Often based around minimalist motifs, Garfield focuses on quiet dread, and keeps the characters engaging during eerie montages where Barratt\u2019s lens emphasizes their helplessness during the night, and the beautiful daytime sun as picturesque mountains and trees belie the horror of being utterly trapped.<\/p>\n

Simple solutions are tested, and the real horror comes from realizing there really is no safe way to get down, and efforts to reach the ground soon put the characters in very different dangers.<\/p>\n

A major shocker is a pack of wolves, and a specific sequence where a character is torn to shreds while the remaining two can\u2019t do a thing to assist, and Green focusing on the actors\u2019 reactions without detailing any of the trauma below. It\u2019s a terrifying scene that wouldn\u2019t have made an impact with brutally detailed cutaways, and that fact is illustrated by an alternate edit in which Green shot the wolves\u2019 attack for protection in case foreign distributors wanted more blood. Showcased in a deleted scenes gallery, the attack is nasty, but it completely cheapens the characters and changes the film from a tragedy of ill-events to a disposable shocker.<\/p>\n

Audiences have been conditioned to expect easy solutions and cheap scares, but Green avoids them right to the end credits, which is surprising and commendable because it ensures\u00a0Frozen<\/strong>will age into a small horror classic with a lingering, solid reputation as a must-see shocker.<\/p>\n

Anchor Bay\u2019s DVD comes loaded with the same detailed, flattering extras as\u00a0Hatchet<\/strong>, including an audio commentary with Green and his three main actors, deleted scenes and a series of making-of featurettes on the production, concluding with a 52 mins. documentary that keeps reinforcing the on-location filming. The Blu-ray edition includes a second commentary track with Green and cinematographer Barrett.<\/p>\n

One of the best shockers of 2010.<\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 2010 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

Related links:<\/p>\n

DVD \/ Film: \u00a0Grace <\/strong><\/a>(2009) —\u00a0Hatchet <\/a><\/strong>(2006)<\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

Related external links (MAIN SITE):<\/em><\/p>\n

DVD \/ Film: \u00a0Wrong Turn<\/a> <\/strong>(2003)<\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

External References<\/em>:<\/p>\n

IMDB <\/a>— Soundtrack Album<\/a> — Composer Filmography<\/a> — Official Site<\/a><\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews<\/a> <\/em><\/em><\/em>\/\u00a0F<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Return to:\u00a0Home \/ Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews \/ F . Film: Excellent \/ DVD Transfer: Excellent\/ DVD Extras: Excellent Label\/Studio: Anchor Bay\/ Region: 1 (NTSC) \/\u00a0Released: September 28 2010 Synopsis: \u00a0Three friends struggle to stay alive after being forgotten and stranded in a chairlift in mid-winter. Special Features: \u00a0Audio commentary with writer\/director Adam Green and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[18],"tags":[165],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-qn","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1635"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1635"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1635\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1768,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1635\/revisions\/1768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}